


At Your Side

by vassalady



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Hospitals, M/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-11
Updated: 2014-04-11
Packaged: 2018-01-19 00:18:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1448314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vassalady/pseuds/vassalady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Immediately following the destruction of Insight, Sam's focus is on Steve.</p>
            </blockquote>





	At Your Side

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for Cap 2, of course, so. Yeah.
> 
> I don't know what this is, something fluffy and sweet, and maybe a little angsty at first. 
> 
> Thanks to sylvaine for giving it a once-over! <3

“Where’s Steve?” Sam braces himself as he leans out as far as he dares to scan the falling wreckage. There’s smoke everywhere, and his ears are ringing, clashing with the roar of the helicopter blades.

“Hill, we need that lock on him now,” Fury says.

Sam can just hear her respond, “He was on the last helicarrier when it was destroyed. Haven’t been able to locate him.”

“Damn,” Natasha mutters beside Sam.

Sam scans the water, but it’s impossible to tell if Steve is anywhere down there, not with the debris still falling and cluttering the water. The second helicarrier is still crashing into the SHIELD building, sending both into the water.

He hears Fury yelling at Maria to get out now before she has tons of rubble collapsing on her.

A pit in Sam’s stomach threatens to overwhelm him. “Not again,” he mutters to himself. “Not this time.” He will find Steve.

“Sam!” Natasha has to shout his name several times before he spares her a glance. “We won’t find him like this! We need units on the ground, and we need to get out of this area before we get hit and forced down.”

“Give me more time!”

But the smoke is only getting worse. They hit a cloud of it, and it stings Sam’s eyes. 

The third helicarrier is still making a slow descent into the water, but once it hits, there will be little chance of finding Steve alive.

Sam can’t lose him.

The helicopter turns to make another pass, and as they do, that’s when Sam spots him. “There! Go back! The shore!”

Sam jumps from the helicopter before they’ve even landed. He hits the ground hard, but recovers with a quick step. Then he sprints to Steve’s side.

“Hey, I’ve got you,” Sam says. He checks Steve’s pulse. It’s faint, but there. “I’ve got you buddy, you just hang on.”

It takes too long for the ambulance to get there. Sam doesn’t leave Steve’s side as they pack him up in the back. He’s vaguely aware of Natasha and Fury watching as the ambulance doors close, but Sam’s focus is Steve.

When they get to the hospital, Sam is forced to stay behind as they whisk Steve away.

He doesn’t notice Natasha when she comes in. Suddenly, she’s just there in the chair next to him.

“You look like you need some rest,” she says. She has a bandage at her temple and more covering her right hand. She sees him looking and says, “Electrical burns.” She shrugs and smirks. “Better than what could have happened.”

“I’m staying,” Sam says. “You should go get some rest.”

“I will.” Her hand comes up to his shoulder and she squeezes it lightly. “The moment we can go see him, I’ll let you know.” She passes him a small phone. “I’ll even send a ride for you if you’re far. This’ll work wherever you are, so don’t feel like you need to stick around here.”

Sam stares at the phone for a moment. It looks deceptively low-tech, but, coming from Natasha, there’s no doubt it’s still spy equipment. He nods once and pockets it. “Fine. But if you don’t call the second you know something, I am kicking your ass.”

She smiles. “Wouldn’t expect any less.”

Of course, the moment Sam leaves the ER, he has no where to go. Home is too far away, and he doesn’t have a ride, nor even his old bus pass, which should have a few rides left on it. That’s stuffed in a drawer in his kitchen behind pens, scissors, a tape measure, and dozens of assorted knick-knacks.

The sun is still shining. Without the stress of taking down two organizations, the day is beautiful. It’s warm, and somewhere, birds are singing. Sam sticks his hands in his pockets and begins to walk. He finds himself in the midst of a commercial area, shoppers going about their day like nothing happened just within a couple miles of them.

Sam sees a sale sign in a window of an Apple store; he stops in and browses among the gadgets. He keeps a hand in his pocket on the phone Natasha gave him, just in case it goes off. He can at least feel it vibrate if not hear it ring.

It’s on impulse that he buys the ipod. He stops in at a Starbucks to access the wi-fi and download just one album.

After that, he tries to find something else to occupy his mind, but he feels too restless. With Natasha’s phone in one pocket and the iPod in the other, he feels weighed down.

When he gets back to the hospital, the phone buzzes.

“Where are you? I’ll send a car,” Natasha says.

“No need. I see you.” He walks toward Natasha, who at last notices him.

She crosses her arms. “I thought you were supposed to be getting some rest.”

“Next time.”

Steve is in a private room with a guard at the door. He’s not hooked up to much, just a monitor and an IV drip. His face is clean, revealing cuts and bruises that look older than they should. In the background, a doctor is talking to Natasha. He catches some things (bullet wounds to the abdomen and shoulder, three cracked ribs, water in his lungs), but he remains focused on Steve.

He’s used to Steve being all motion. The monitor and the slow rise and fall of Steve’s chest are the only indications that he’s alive at all. But he is. There’s a weight in Sam’s chest, part relief, part joy, part worry, part fear. It’s all jumbled up with something else that he can’t quite identify, and Sam has to take a few deep breaths to feel like he can breathe again.

He pulls up the chair next to the bed. He’s aware the doctor is watching him, curious. He’s not the Black Widow; he’s just some guy who’s acting too familiar with Captain America. But Sam doesn’t care. As he sits down, he says, “I don’t suppose you could get someone to scrounge me up a change of clothes?”

Natasha nods. “Already done.”

Nurses are in and out, checking Steve’s vitals, and trying not to look at Sam too much. Sam sets up the ipod, plugged in and set to repeat, and just lets the music play.

Someone comes with clean clothes for Sam and a message from Natasha. She and Maria are doing cleanup work, and she’ll be in touch. Also, Sam needs to get some rest.

When the ex-SHIELD agent sent to deliver the message tells him this, Sam just shakes his head and says, “I will when she does.”

Unfortunately, it’s true that his body aches. He didn’t take the beating that Steve did, but that HYDRA guy hadn’t pulled his punches, and jumping out of a collapsing building into a helicopter ten stories down is not the fun and games the movies make it out to be.

The exhaustion hits him all at once. Maybe he should ask for painkillers or something. Sam brushed off all attempts to get him checked out without really realizing it, and now he thinks maybe that was a mistake.

It’s not longer after, sore and in pain, that he drifts off.

\--

“On your left.”

It takes Sam a moment to register the words. Steve’s voice is a little raspy. Sam lifts his hand to rub his eyes, and that’s when everything comes back to him along with sharp pain. He ignores the pain as he meets Steve’s gaze.

“One of these days, I’m gonna be the one to say that,” Sam says. 

Steve smirks at him. “Sure.”

Sam grins so wide, it hurts his cheeks. “Just you wait.”

The pressure in his chest lifts, replaced with something else, something insubstantial, and gives him a sense of floating.

Steve groans. “Wow, I hurt.”

“I don’t know, man, they’ve got you hooked up to a painkiller bonanza.” Sam frowns. “You shouldn’t hurt that much.”

“Metabolism,” Steve grunts. He shuts his eyes tight. “Help a guy out, get someone?”

Sam’s own body refuses to move at this point, but that’s one of the marvels of modern technology: he doesn’t have to.

“Hey, gramps, you’ve got a little thing to call a nurse.” Steve reaches out his good hand, searching for it. “On your left.”

Steve musters enough energy to raise an eyebrow. “Laugh it up, Wilson,” he says as he at last finds the call button. “Just you wait until I’m on my feet again.”

“That might be sooner than me.”

“What?”

A nurse comes in then. It takes a little explaining and visits from two more doctors to finally get Steve some more pain medication.

“Well, that sucks,” Sam says when the last nurse finally leaves.

“Get hungry a lot, too,” Steve says. “I think… I’m going to sleep.” He meets Sam’s eye. “And you. This is a hospital. See someone.”

Sam smiles. “Okay. Fine. If it’ll make you happy.”

“It will.”

Sam stands slowly. He gotten stiff in the last… however long it’s been. Hours?

He catches Steve’s frown, but he gives him a grin in return. “Just not used to sitting in place for so long.”

Steve frowns at him a moment longer before his expression softens. “I’ll be here when you get back.” He gestures down at himself the best he can. “Not really in a state to move.”

“See, this is when I should challenge you to a race.”

“Hey, Sam?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks. For helping out.”

Sam’s heart tightens a little at that. He takes the step to come right up next to Steve’s side. “For you, anything.” He lets his hand rest on Steve’s shoulder. “All you have to do is ask.”

Steve’s expression shifts a little then. His lids fall a little lower, and his tongue runs quickly over his upper lip.

“Shouldn’t make offers you can’t keep.”

“Who’s saying I can’t keep my word?”

There’s something in the air between them. It’s as expected as it is a surprise when at last Steve says, “And if I asked for a kiss?”

Sam bends over Steve. “As you wish,” he says quietly. Then he closes the gap between them.

It’s not a rough kiss. Steve still has a busted lip, even if it is healing at an unnaturally quick rate. But it’s tender, and one of the best kisses Sam has had in a very long time.

When Sam pulls away, Steve’s eyes are shining. “I have seen that movie, you know.”

“Damn, dude. Means I can’t introduce you.”

“I’ll pretend I haven’t?”

Sam chooses to kiss Steve again instead of responding. He is so glad that they made it, that, against all odds, they took down both SHIELD and HYDRA, and they are both still here.

He rests his forehead lightly against Steve’s, watching Steve’s eyes close. “I’ll be back in a bit. And we can watch whatever the hell you want.”

“Recommend something to me,” Steve says. His words slur together a little. “Music is real good. I trust your taste.”

“As you should.”

Steve sighs and opens his eyes again. “Get yourself looked at. I’ll be here.”

\--

And Steve is, when Sam returns later with a few bandages and prescription. He comes back with a couple videos, and all they do for the next couple of days is watch them and argue over how they would rank them.

On the third day, Steve discharges himself from the hospital and meets Sam outside the hospital.

“You seen C-SPAN this morning?” Steve asks as he slips into Sam’s car. Sam catches the slight wince.

“Not my first choice for entertainment pre-coffee, to be honest.”

“Natasha seems to be having herself a good time with the inquests.”

“Rather her than me,” Sam says. That makes Steve chuckle in agreement.

He drives to the cemetery per Steve’s request. He’s not surprised when first Fury, and then Natasha, show up. Sam knows they’ve been keeping tabs on Steve and have been in contact with him recently, although Sam’s not sure when. He’s more or less been with Steve all day every day since he got into the hospital. But that’s why they are the spies.

As they head back to Sam’s car, Sam asks, “So where do we start?”

“Don’t know yet.” Steve grins at Sam. “But we’ll figure it out.”

Sam nods. “Seat of the pants search, I can dig it.” 

Steve slips his hand into Sam’s and gives it a squeeze. “Thanks. For everything. It’s good to have a partner like you.”

“Well, I am pretty stellar.”

Steve makes a face like he’s considering that. “Well, pretty, at least.”

“Hey!”

Sam stops and tugs Steve back. Steve trips and pulls Sam down with him. Sam doesn’t waste the opportunity to wrap his arms around Steve. “I think you mean dashingly handsome.”

“That, too,” Steve says with a glimmer in his eye.

They stay on the ground for a long moment. At last, Sam says, “We’ll find him.”

Steve nods, but he can’t seem to find anything to say back. He gets up first, giving Sam a hand up. 

Steve leans forward, and Sam meets him halfway. Sam is a little surprised, but not unappreciative, of Steve’s open affection, even if the cemetery is pretty deserted.

“This isn’t, like, going to be a phase for you, right?” Sam asks. He says it lightly, but the sentiment behind it is real. He’s half-afraid this is just some thing for Steve, another thing to experience in the modern world, or maybe just a result of shared experience, riding the adrenaline high of last week.

Steve frowns at him, confused. “If this is a phase, I must have misunderstood the meaning of the word at some early point in my life.” He can’t keep up the frown, though, and he slips into a genuine smile. “Hey, if you had known me in my younger days, you’d know I don’t choose partners lightly.”

“Fine by me,” Sam says. He feels ridiculous, but he can’t stop grinning, so he leans in for another kiss.

Out of all the upheaval in Sam’s life recently, this is by far the best change.

Steve pulls back. “Race you to the car.”

“Not fair!” Sam shouts, but Steve is already half-way there, letting out a whoop of victory.

Sam can get used to this.


End file.
